Joe Lieberman

Lieberman Warns Federal Employees To Stay Off This List

Ryan J. Reilly | February 17, 2011, 10:10AM

"Americans love lists," Sen. Joe Lieberman told reporters yesterday as he and other members of Congress gathered at a news conference to discuss the Government Accountability Office's "High Risk" list -- a group of programs that are susceptible to waste, fraud and abuse.

That list, Lieberman noted, isn't one you want to be on if you're a federal worker. It chronicles 30 government programs, many of which have been on the list for a long time, that are at high risk for waste and will help provide a "roadmap" for Congressional oversight in the coming months.

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Topics: Congress, Darrell Issa, Department of Interior, Government Accountability Office, Government Waste, Joe Lieberman, Susan Collins

Canada

Gov't Accountability Office Slams DHS Control Of Northern Border

Ryan J. Reilly | February 2, 2011, 8:37AM

Janet Napolitano and the Department of Homeland Security have long been facing criticism over whether the feds are doing enough to secure the Mexican border. But the Government Accountability Office (GAO) said in a report this week that the government is ignoring the threat on the porous border shared with our neighbors to the north.

DHS has been challenged in its efforts to address the threat of illegal activity on the northern border "where the extent of illegal activity is unknown, but the risk of terrorist
activity is high," the authors of the GAO report write.

The GAO's review of reports from 2010 showed that for the northern border overall, just 32 of the nearly 4,000 border miles had reached an acceptable level of control.

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Topics: Canada, Department of Homeland Security, Government Accountability Office, Janet Napolitano, Mexico

Bush Administration

GAO Study Finds Improper Burrowing During Bush Years

Justin Elliott | June 29, 2010, 10:02AM

A study by the Government Accountability Office has found seven instances of improper burrowing -- political appointees shifting to career civil servant positions in a given agency -- during the Bush Administration, though none of the seven occurred close to the 2008 presidential election.

Regular TPMmuckraker readers will remember our reporting on burrowing back in late 2008 when several Bush Administration officials made eyebrow-raising shifts to career positions.

The GAO did an exhaustive study of these so-called "conversions" from political to career positions between May 2005 and May 2009. It found 139 conversions in that period, with the most -- 32 -- occurring at the Justice Department, and the second-most, 17, occurring at the Department of Homeland Security. The GAO found the vast majority, 117, followed "fair and open competition" and proper procedures to ensure that the conversions were justified.

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Topics: Burrowing, Bush Administration, Government Accountability Office, Homeland Security, Justice Department

Defense Contractors

Oversight Reports Slam Dysfunction At Defense Contract Audit Agency

Justin Elliott | September 30, 2009, 10:08AM

The office in charge of auditing Pentagon contracts is beset by incompetence and possibly malfeasance that has allowed big defense contractors to line their pockets at taxpayer expense, according to two new government oversight reports.

Last year, the obscure but important arm of the federal government called the Defense Contract Audit Agency looked at $501 billion in contractor costs.

Which is, as it sounds, a pretty important job. But the DCAA isn't doing the job so well, concludes the Defense Department's Inspector General, whose 96-page report on the DCAA was unsealed yesterday and can be read here (.pdf), and the Government Accountability Office, whose own damning report is here.

Let's look at a case that shows how auditor malfeasance can line the pockets of big defense contractors with millions in taxpayer dollars.

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Topics: Boeing, Claire McCaskill, Defense Contract Audit Agency, Defense Contractors, Defense Department, Government Accountability Office